My Wooden Spoon

With the hustle and bustle of back to school, parents are struggling to renew lunch box ideas and will most often just throw something together but it doesn’t have to be that way.
One of the most important things you can do to insure that your kiddo doesn’t just toss or even trade off their lunch, [...]

Menu planning is essential for keeping your pantry stocked and budget in check. I don’t know about you guys but with the kids out for Summer, they are eating EVERYTHING in sight which means I’m spending more on food. I’m terrible at menu planning and prefer to fly by the seat of my [...]

Have you been there? Have you devoured one of their cheesecakes?  Sadly, I have not but I really want to and I know you’re gonna laugh but I had no idea that served other food as well.  Hey, that’s the sheltered life of a country gal!
They have locations everywhere and even a couple down by [...]

Just a quick tip when chopping garlic, always sprinkle a little salt to keep the garlic from sticking to your knife so much.  It really does help, I promise.  I’m sure many of you know this but I thought I’d share it anyways!
Here’s a few pics:)
Smash that garlic clove and peel off the outer layer.

Sprinkle [...]

I’m willing to bet that 2/3 of you that have individual recipes that are just lying around that need to get into some sort of organizing order!  Well, I have a few tips that may just help you. 
BINDERS, BINDERS, BINDERS

3-ring sheet, 6-l/2″x8-l/2″, with two recipe pockets on each side (4 total) Plastic pockets with paper [...]

Planning a dinner menu can sort of be a pain because you have to take the time to sit there and think of ideas but with my menu planning, a basic layout is given and you’re left to “fill in the blank”.  Having cooked for ranches and currently 3 4 boys counting my man, I [...]

Okay, raise your hands if you’re a Rachel Ray fan……**raising mine**.  Sometimes she can be a little annoying but I think she’s great and she has super easy recipes and almost always uses ingredients that I can get my hands on.  She has some funny little sayings like, “Yummo!” and “Add a little EVOO”.  For [...]

There are 2 very important things to remember when freezing food.

Make sure it’s wrapped VERY well and/or put into a seal tight container.
Dates–Always date your freezer products to avoid freezer burn.

Freezer burn is dehydration of the food caused by improper packing, and wastes food.  If you don’t wrap your food well and/or leave it in [...]

Today’s tips will revolve around baking. I LOVE to bake but hate the clean up;)  BTW–I give tips every Tuesday!!

If you like to use insulated baking sheets, don’t run out to the store to buy them; you can simulate them by stacking one regular cookie sheet over another. Be especially careful when you take them [...]

How to Melt Chocolate
Melting chocolate to use as a baking ingredient for candy work or decoration requires gentle heat. Chocolate that is overheated may scorch, lose flavor and turn coarse and grainy. Stir melting chocolate after it has begun to liquefy. Because of the sensitivity of milk solids to heat, milk and white chocolates should [...]

To stay with the Thanksgiving theme, I’m sharing some tips.  These range from cooking to hosting.

Put the ham in the oven on a pretty low temp the night before Thanksgiving you go to bed. Then roast your turkey in the morning. The ham is always juicy and never dry because it cooked slow and low, 
Cover a turkey with [...]

We all want to have the perfect Thanksgiving, however, some of  us need a little more help than others.  One of the items I recommend for cooking your turkey, is the
Nesco 18-qt. Nonstick Cookwell Electric Roaster to free up your oven for other baking and cooking that needs to be done. I have an earlier [...]

With the holiday season around the corner, baking will be overtaking the kitchen.  A couple of thing you can do to make the clean up a breeze are:

Use those nonstick liners for your baking sheets!  Most of them are reuseable but because I’m lazy, I just use them and toss them.  It saves me some [...]